Western Sydney, NSW

With a population of over 1.4 million, Western Sydney is the third largest nregional economy in Ausrtalia, after Sydney and Melbourne and its population is larger than that of South Australia. It is the most culturally and linguistically diverse region in New South Wales and also home to 60 percent of Australia’s largest urban Indigenous population.

The following excerpt from Sharon Fingland’s paper at the ReVisioning the Greater West Regional Conference in 2003 provides an overview of the region.

“Many studies of Western Sydney have focused on the region’s wide ranging socioeconomic disadvantage in comparison to the wealthier parts of Sydney. However the overriding picture that emerges from the local council’s area profiles is of both diversity and resilience. Not only the diversity of the physical and social geography of the region but also the enormous diversity of issues, constraints and also opportunities that face each of the thirteen local government areas that comprise Greater Western Sydney.

It is the region’s sense of identity – whether by gender, class, race and ethnicity that is Western Sydney’s strength – it gives the region character and provides the basis of its civic culture. Local government within the region is coming to terms with these differences and is widening its activities in order to help their diverse communities help themselves.

The region is far from homogeneous. Variations between one part of the region and another are important indicators of deprivation. Lack of housing amenity, households without access to a car, high unemployment rates particularly for males, poor English proficiency, are greater problems in some Council areas than others.

Greater Western Sydney is experiencing growth pressures and rapid socio-cultural change with strong inter-regional variation. It is not simply a matter of planning for either Urban Development Program pressures or urban renewal. In a number of local government areas in Greater Western Sydney, both pressures are fuelling growth.

In addition to growth and change, we need to plan for the people who are already here. Councils in the region are aiming, not simply to celebrate growth, but to make the fairest use of their resources in an equitable way. Urban growth is not brought about solely by development of undeveloped land. Other factors outside local control such as: – low interest rates; – improved transport infrastructure; – an ageing housing stock; – changing demographic characteristics such as household formation rates – the ageing of the population; and – the demand for alternative forms of housing and locations; are all pervasive influences on housing redevelopment and change that is affecting the older, more established local government areas.

Parts of Greater Western Sydney have tended to house those citizens least able to exercise choice in terms of their jobs, homes and personal consumption. The physical character of the area has varied considerably, depending on the functions and fortunes of their particular urban setting at different times.”